


Bitten

by Lauren (notalwaysweak)



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-08
Updated: 2007-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-05 20:58:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysweak/pseuds/Lauren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Hogwarts Elite Hogsmeade July 2007; the challenge was to write about a character's discovery of a Horcrux and what they did with it afterwards.</p><p>Dedicated to Hufflepuff House.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitten

**Author's Note:**

> Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Harry scuttled past the portrait of Sirius's mother and into the dining room at Grimmauld Place, though he could hardly disrupt the portrait any more than the raucous laughter and cheers coming from the dining room were. His heart was racing - Hermione had owled him to ask him to come and join them as quickly as possible, but hadn't specified why. It was too dangerous to be specific, these dark days - you never knew when the person who got your owl might be a Death Eater instead of its intended recipient. But the laughter sounded genuine, and so it was at least fairly likely that nobody had died.

'Harry's here!' Hermione exclaimed, seeing him at the doorway. 'Come in, Harry, sit down!' She filled a mug with strong, hot coffee - it was all they drank these days - and passed it along the table. Ron was there too, and Lupin, and Tonks, and half a dozen other Order members, all grinning widely in spite of their clear exhaustion. Everyone was running on empty, and nobody seemed to mind.

Harry slid into a seat near the head of the table - they kept the top seat vacant in Sirius's memory - and looked expectantly at Hermione. 'What happened?' he asked. 'Must be something pretty important - that owl you sent to me was exhausted, it hadn't stopped flying all night.'

'It's Professor Lupin's - sorry, Remus's - story to tell,' Hermione said, nodding to Lupin, who looked faintly embarrassed; Tonks put an arm around his shoulders, which only turned his face redder. Everyone seated around the table fell silent.

'As I'm sure you're aware, it was the full moon last night,' Lupin began. 'Given my current delicate position, I transformed when the others did. I'd intended to follow Greyback and deter him, if possible, from harming any children, but unfortunately he eluded me and disappeared into the night, along with the other werewolves, running to hunt, hunting to kill.

'I managed to retain a modicum of control, with the help of a small dose of aconite - as you know, Neville Longbottom's Herbology skills are quite wonderful, and he discovered how to dilute the aconite with the liquid from boiled seawrack leaves to make it less potent - and less poisonous.'

'We know _that_,' Tonks said, poking his shoulder affectionately. 'Tell them the good part.'

'At any rate,' Lupin went on, 'I didn't wander far from where we were staying, and before very long I heard Greyback coming back through the trees - he makes so much noise it's a wonder he ever catches anything to eat, let alone people - making for our hidey-hole. Then I heard voices, so I crept back and listened. It was Voldemort, talking to Greyback about a plan they'd been working on for weeks - something to do with infiltrating St. Mungo's and taking out the Healers.' Harry saw Hermione wince. 'I couldn't move much closer, and so only got one word in every three, but it was clear what they were meaning to do.'

'What are they planning?' Harry asked.

'Oh, Harry, that's not the good part either,' Tonks said.

'Let the man talk,' Shacklebolt rumbled.

'Just as I was about to get up and go back into camp, to pretend I'd finished hunting and see if I could at least hear something concrete before they stopped talking, I heard a rustling in the grass near my front paws, an animal movement sound.'

Lupin stopped, took a sip of water, and looked back up at Harry. 'I _hadn't_ hunted that night, and the wolf instinct took over. I snapped at the source of the sound and felt dry scales on my tongue, and bit down, and... you can guess the rest.'

There was a long silence.

'You ate Nagini,' Harry said.

'Yes,' Lupin said.

'You ate _Nagini_.'

'Yes.'

'You _ate_ Nagini. You _ate _one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.'

'Yes.' Lupin smiled. 'Snake tastes quite a bit like chicken, actually.'


End file.
